DIRECTIVE OF THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

On Stabilizing Prices During the Tet Holiday of Year of the Goat 

To stabilize prices and prevent sudden increases in the prices of goods and services during the Tet holiday of the Year of the Goat, contributing to ensuring that the people can celebrate Tet happily, enthusiastically, and thriftily, the Minister of Finance requests the Directors of Provincial Finance Departments, Heads of Tax Bureaus, Heads of Customs Bureaus, and Directors of State Treasury Offices to coordinate with market management agencies in provinces and centrally-administered cities to implement the following tasks:

1./ Immediately organize the implementation of grasping the situation regarding the preparation of goods for Tet (rice, food, candy, cookies, beer, wine, clothing, cultural products, and means of transportation...) by all enterprises of all economic sectors within their jurisdiction, report to the People's Committee of the province/city (hereinafter referred to as the provincial People's Committee) to ensure production and circulation flow smoothly, closely follow the market to organize the supply of goods and services; have plans to reserve essential goods to meet the needs of the people, not allowing imbalances between supply and demand causing sudden price fluctuations before and after Tet, especially in areas recently affected by natural disasters, remote areas, and large cities.

2./ The Director of the Provincial Finance Department shall be responsible for:

- Developing price control plans for goods and services (important goods consumed extensively during Tet and entertainment, transport services...) to submit to the provincial People's Committee for approval and organization of implementation.

At the same time, advise the provincial People's Committee to effectively implement Directive No. 30/2004/CT-TTg dated August 5, 2004 of the Prime Minister on measures to curb the rate of price increase in the short term.

- Report to the provincial People's Committee to instruct relevant departments, enterprises to strictly implement the policy of uniform service prices and travel ticket prices (hotel services, tourism, historical relic sightseeing, art performance tickets, telephone charges; railway, air, automobile, waterway travel ticket prices...) for overseas Vietnamese and their relatives when returning home; ensure that from 2005 and especially during the Tet of the Year of the Goat, there will be no enterprise violating this policy.

- Coordinate with related agencies (Market Management, Tax, Customs, Police...) to monitor the market, promptly detect monopolistic practices, illegal competition regarding pricing, speculation for profit; selling prohibited goods, fake goods, low-quality goods, goods of unknown origin, tax-evading goods... and handle violations resolutely to protect consumer interests.

- Check compliance with state regulations on pricing, selling goods and services according to the authorized agency's stipulated prices; check price labeling to prevent businesses and individuals from arbitrarily increasing prices during Tet, severely punish those who violate according to Decree No. 169/2004/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2004 of the Government on administrative penalties in the field of pricing.

- Coordinate with the Transportation Department and market management agencies to check the implementation of passenger transport fares, bicycle, motorcycle, car parking fees, etc., to prevent arbitrary price hikes.

- Coordinate with the Commerce Department while directly monitoring market price trends to promptly detect goods and services with sudden price increases, propose stabilization measures according to Decree No. 170/2003/NĐ-CP dated December 25, 2003 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Pricing Ordinance, report to the Chairman of the provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision, and simultaneously report to the Ministry of Finance.

3./ The Heads of the Tax Bureau and Customs Authorities shall be responsible for dispatching competent staff to participate in market inspections and controls at the request of the Provincial Finance Department to promptly address violations within their jurisdiction and propose to higher authorities for handling violations exceeding their authority.

4./ The Director of the State Treasury shall be responsible for strengthening budget expenditure oversight, and proactively coordinating with the Provincial Finance Department to implement measures to improve compliance with regulations and enhance thrift and anti-waste in government spending during the Tet holiday.

5./ The system of reporting market prices during the Tet holiday is specified as follows:

- From December 25, 2004 to February 5, 2005, in regular reports from Provincial Finance Departments to the Ministry of Finance (Price Management Bureau), additional content on the situation of goods preparation for Tet and assessment of local supply capacity, and price stabilization efforts must be included, particularly items such as glutinous rice, high-quality white rice, pork, chicken, fish, tobacco, candy, cookies, processed foods (sticky rice cake, sausage...), fruits, and some service prices like clothing alteration, bicycle, motorcycle, car parking, passenger transport fares...

- From January 25, 2005 to February 21, 2005 (excluding Tet holidays), Provincial Finance Departments in Lang Son, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Hanoi, Nghe An, Thua Thien Hue, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau shall regularly collect information on market prices of goods for Tet and implement a daily rapid reporting system to the Ministry of Finance (by fax to the Price Management Bureau).

- After Tet, Provincial Finance Departments shall report a comprehensive evaluation of market prices (before and after Tet) to the Ministry of Finance (through the Price Management Bureau) by February 16, 2005 for compilation and reporting to the Prime Minister.

6./ Assign the Head of the Price Management Bureau to coordinate with the Heads of the Tax General Department, Customs General Department, State Treasury General Corporation, and the Office Director of the Ministry to perform the following tasks:

- Monitor, urge, and inspect the implementation of the above directives issued by the Minister of Finance.

- Implement the ten-day periodic reporting system and submit urgent reports on market price fluctuations and any unusual changes (if any) during the Tet holiday./.